Vpls N-Pe Redundancy Using Pseudo Wire Fast Failover

1. A method comprising: using a setup engine, establishing a plurality of Pseudo Wire (PW) connections between a first network appliance region and a second network appliance region to transmit data from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region along an active PW; disabling the active PW when a failure of the active PW is detected; using a selector, selecting an inactive PW to become a new active PW such that the data is transmittable via the new active PW from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region; and using a PW switch, switching from the active PW to the new active PW.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising listening to the active PW.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the listening to the active PW comprises: polling the second network appliance; and detecting a response to the polling.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the active PW into a data store as another inactive PW.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling a selected inactive PW in a data plane.

6. An apparatus comprising: a setup engine to establish a plurality of Pseudo Wire (PW) connections between a first network appliance region and a second network appliance region to transmit data from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region along an active PW; a disabling signal transmitter to transmit a disable PW signal when a failure of the active PW is detected; a selector to select an inactive PW to become a new active PW such that the data is transmittable via the new active PW from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region; and a PW switch to switch from the active PW to the new active PW, the new active PW providing a new data plane across which the data may be transmitted.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising a listening engine to listen to the active PW.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the listening engine to listen to the active PW, monitors activity on the active PW.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the listening engine listens to the active PW and comprises: polling the second network appliance; and detecting a response to the polling.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising a storage engine to store the active PW into a data store as another inactive PW.

11. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the apparatus is part of a core network that includes at least one of the first network appliance region and the second network appliance region.

12. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising: a determining engine to determine whether bilateral PW disabling is supported by at least one of the first network appliance, or the second network appliance; a first transmitter to transmit a disable signal from the first network appliance to the second network appliance to instruct the second network appliance as to an identity of an inactive PW; and a receiver to receive a data transmission across an active PW, the data transmission being sent from the second network appliance to the first network appliance.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a second transmitter to transmit a PW enable signal from the first network appliance to the second network appliance when the inactive PW is being transitioned to become the active PW.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising an update engine to update the second network appliance on the identity of the inactive PW.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a switch to use the first network appliance to switch from a first active PW to a second active PW, the second active PW being formerly the inactive PW.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a marking engine to mark the inactive PW.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising an enabling engine to enable a selected inactive PW in a data plane.

18. An apparatus comprising: means for establishing a plurality of Pseudo Wire (PW) connections between a first network appliance region and a second network appliance region to transmit data from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region along an active PW; means for disabling the active PW when a failure of the active PW is detected; means for selecting an inactive PW to become a new active PW such that the data is transmittable via the new active PW from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region; and means for switching from the active PW to the new active PW.

19. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory in communication with the at least one processor, the memory including logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution and when executed operable to: establish a plurality of Pseudo Wire (PW) connections between a first network appliance region and a second network appliance region to transmit data from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region along an active PW; disable the active PW when a failure of the active PW is detected; selecting an inactive PW to become a new active PW such that the data is transmittable via the new active PW from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region; and switch from the active PW to the new active PW.

20. Logic encoded in one or more non-transitory tangible media for execution and when executed operable to: establish a plurality of Pseudo Wire (PW) connections between a first network appliance region and a second network appliance region to transmit data from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region along an active PW; disable the active PW when a failure of the active PW is detected; select an inactive PW to become a new active PW such that the data is transmittable via the new active PW from the first network appliance region to the second network appliance region; and switching from the active PW to the new active PW.